Latest updates from the Tour

The 2014 tour is now over and it is only fitting to reflect on what has been a hugely successful tour. As was discussed at the final night’s presentations eleven and a half months work goes in the make the two week tour as enjoyable as possible for the boys and host families.

The Metro boys prepared well with over 20 hours and training as well as three warm up games. During this time the teams really came together on and off the field. From the moment we went through the gates at the airport the boys were a credit to the Metros and their parents. I can’t remember another tour where so many passengers on our flight remarked on how well behaved the kids were.

Every game was played in the spirit of friendship through lacrosse with tough competition on the field followed by joint celebration regardless of the result.

The day trip went well with the boys visiting Washington DC on the first Monday for a whistle stop tour of the capital cities major attractions. The second trip had a more lacrosse focus with the boys visiting both Towson and Hopkins Universities and then unloading their spending money in Laxworld.

The hosting match ups were a great success this year, at every game a received comments from numerous host families about how well the boys were getting on. At one game I overheard one parent saying she had never heard so many pleases and thank yous.

The final nights games are always a celebration of the tour with presentations following the games. In the US the friendship trophy is played for at under 15 level (under 13 in the UK). This trophy symbolises the foundations the tour has been built on and has been played for every year since 1976. Not many Metros wins in that time and 2014 was no exception but seeing the boys sat together listening to the speeches we will be playing for many years to come.

The Les Grainger award is given to the boy on tour who displays the qualities of Les Grainger and this years award went to Elliot Bickerton who was a popular winner. During the presentation Scott Burnham five time member of the Iroquois National team spoke about the history of lacrosse which was fitting as the trophy takes the form of an Iroquois Indian.

The final act of the evening was for me to extend the invitation to the Anne Arundle team to visit the UK in 2015. You will all by glad to know that this invitation was accepted and work is already underway for the 2015 tour.

A massive thank you to everyone who has helped make the 2014 a success. Good luck to all the boys who will be too old in 2015, we wish you all the best for the future.

Welcome back to the Stockport Metros website everyone!

The 2014 USA Tour starts in a few days, so you’ll no doubt be receiving lots of up-to-date information via email from Chris, which we’ll also try and communicate with you via Twitter, so make sure you’re following the official Twitter account.

First update that we need to tell you about is a change in the terminal for the US Air flight to Philly. This flight now leaves from Terminal 3 @ Manchester.

Once again we’ll be trying our hardest to update the site with game stats and photos, and also photos from our various trips, so please visit the site regularly and make sure you add your comments and congratulations to the boys as they take part in their epic adventure!